1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to newspaper vending machines and, more particularly, to a single-vend, single-fold newspaper vending machine having an elevator system mounted within the machine housing, the elevator system including a vertically movable inclined newspaper support plate and a rack and gear system for ratcheting the vertically movably plate upwards, the elevator system operative to elevate the next paper on the stack of papers to a particular position where that paper may be engaged by one or more pusher bars which engage the topmost paper moving it rearwardly, such that the topmost paper disengages from the stack and may fall forward into the newspaper vending chute, and further including a cam and ratchet door handle mechanism for restricting and controlling newspaper dispensing and access to the interior of the device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most newspaper vending machines on the market today are coin actuated and the insertion of a coin into the machine enables the prospective purchaser to open a door to gain access to the entire supply of newspapers within the machine. While the majority of customers will at that time only remove a single newspaper, there are some individuals who will remove multiple newspapers from the machine either for resale or distribution to others. Obviously, there is a need for a newspaper vending machine which will prevent the theft of newspapers from the machine.
Prior attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing vending machines to dispense only a single copy of the newspaper in response to the insertion of coins in the machine. The scarcity of single copy newspaper vending machines is the best evidence of the failure of the prior art designs for single copy newspaper vending machines to address and solve the problems presented.
Various attempts have been made in the prior art to make single vend newspaper vending machines. For example, Moore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,120, discloses a newspaper vending machine which features an article holder which supports a newspaper stack. The reference also includes a pusher which frictionally or by piercing will engage each newspaper at the top of the stack and move it up and out of contact with the presser where upon the paper falls into a dispensing tray. The major disadvantage found in Moore, obviously, is that the intricate nature of the pulley system and movable nature of the pusher arrangement will almost certainly lead to numerous breakdowns and malfunctions while the invention is being used. Furthermore, there is no means by which the papers held within the machine can be seen to enable a potential purchaser to decide whether he or she should make that purchase. Another example of a newspaper vending machine found in the prior art is shown in Godley, Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,461, which discloses a newspaper vending machine having a vertically moveable platform and a dispensing wedge. A drive shaft rotates to raise or lower the platform in response to rotation of an external crank thus vending the next newspaper on a stack. While Godley certainly presents a more simple and efficient system for vending newspapers than Moore, Godley includes several features which can be improved upon. For example, the dispensing mechanism for the newspaper involves the raising the stack of newspapers above a dispensing wedge thus allow the topmost newspaper to slide off of the top of the stack and thus be dispensed. However, some vended newspapers are of a narrow thickness and, therefore, as the platform is cranked upwards, the height added to the newspaper platform may cause two or more newspapers to fall from the top of the stack, thus resulting in the entire purpose for the invention being destroyed. Also, the crank handle as shown in Godley may be more prone to malfunctions due to the various connected elements within Godley. There is therefore a need for reliable and efficient single vend newspaper vending machine which will correctly vend even newspapers of narrow thickness.
Various other inventions have been proposed in the prior art which attempt to address and resolve the problems inherent in single vend newspaper vending machines. Included among these are such devices as Gunzler, U.S. Pat. No. 3,705,665, Wingate, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,448,328, and 4,506,800, and Hennessy, U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,513. Each of these inventions, however, include inherent problems which do not fully address and solve the problem of producing an efficient and reliable single vend newspaper vending machine. There is therefore a need for an efficient and reliable single vend newspaper vending machine.
Another problem encountered in connection with coin operated vending machines in the prior art is that it is often possible for the machine to xe2x80x9cjamxe2x80x9d with a paper stuck in the dispensing chute. This can result in the person using the machine to be able to reach into the machine to remove additional papers illegally. There is a need for a dispensing mechanism and chute which will prevent such unauthorized access.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved single vend newspaper vending machine.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a single vend newspaper vending machine which includes an elevator system for raising a stack of newspapers to a predetermined height for engagement by a pushing mechanism which will lift the topmost paper from underneath a paper restraining tongue and allow the top most paper to fall forward into a dispensing chute.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a single vend newspaper vending machine which is capable of vending papers of varying thicknesses one at a time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a single vend newspaper vending machine which will prevent unauthorized entry into the interior of the machine through the dispensing slot or handle section.
Finally, an object of the present invention is to provide a single vend newspaper vending machine which is safe, durable and efficient in use.
The present invention provides a single vend newspaper vending machine which includes a machine housing having outer walls and a newspaper elevator system mounted in the machine housing, the newspaper elevator system including a slide track mounted in the machine housing. The newspaper elevator system further includes a generally vertical fixed toothed rack mounted in the machine housing, an upright vertically movable toothed rack movably mounted in the machine housing and a newspaper support trolley movably mounted on the slide track. First and second clutch-equipped gear wheels are included, the first clutch-equipped gear wheel operative to engage the fixed toothed rack, the second clutch-equipped gear wheel operative to engage the vertically movable toothed rack. The slide track, the fixed toothed rack, the vertically movable toothed rack and the newspaper support trolley are mounted within the machine housing such that when the newspaper support trolley is movably mounted on the slide track, the first clutch-equipped gear wheel engages the fixed toothed rack and the second clutch-equipped gear wheel engages the vertically movable toothed rack.
The first clutch-equipped gear wheel is operative to restrict downward movement of the newspaper support trolley when engaging the fixed toothed rack and the second clutch-equipped gear wheel is operative to permit downward movement of the vertically movable toothed rack. However, upwards movement of the vertically movable toothed rack causes the newspaper support trolley to be moved upwardly therewith.
A newspaper thickness sensing device is movably mounted in the machine housing and is operative to determine the thickness of the topmost paper. A newspaper pusher device is mounted in the machine housing adjacent the newspaper stack and is operative to engage the topmost paper on the newspaper stack supported on the newspaper support trolley and slide the topmost newspaper off of the newspaper stack. The topmost newspaper then slides towards an access opening extending through the machine housing, the access opening operative to permit access to the topmost paper after the topmost paper has been slid off of the newspaper stack, and an access opening control device is mounted adjacent the access opening, the access opening control device including a door operative to cover the access opening and a door opening control system for releasably latching the door in a closed, access opening covering position.
Finally, the present invention includes a newspaper pusher and movable toothed rack actuation system operatively connected to the newspaper pusher device and the movable toothed rack such that engagement of the actuation system first actuates the newspaper pusher device to remove the topmost paper from the newspaper stack, the actuation system operative to secondly raise the movable toothed rack a distance determined by the thickness of the topmost paper as determined by the newspaper thickness sensing device, thereby raising the newspaper support trolley such that the penultimate newspaper replaces the vended topmost newspaper in substantially the same position that the topmost newspaper was in prior to being vended.
It is clear that the features of this invention combine to form an easily used and extremely durable and efficient single vend newspaper vending machine. The use of the clutch-equipped gear wheels renders the operation of the present invention extremely reliable, results in extremely accurate positioning of the newspaper trolley for improved vending, and is much quieter than the operation of those devices found in the prior art. Furthermore, the improvements in the present invention to the paper access opening and access control device therefor will prevent unauthorized access to the interior of the device. It is thus seen that the present invention provides a substantial improvement over the prior art.